TWO QUESTIONS

***BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN***
Okay, sports fans. Here are your questions:
Who was the MVP of the National League this year?
Answer: Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers
Who was recently suspended for PED use?
Answer: Right again, it was the same Ryan Braun.
Braun has appealed his 50 game suspension, because he says the testing was flawed. Early reports indicate that he may have a case, but no player has successfully appealed a suspension for drug use. That's MLB for you; guilty even when proven innocent. We'll continue to watch this one.

***THE "NON-CONTACT" SPORT***
Cincinnati and Xavier had themselves quite a brouhaha (Annie-O's looking up that word), last night. 8th-ranked Xavier ran all over U of Cincinnati, 76-53, but Xavier's star guard, Tu Holloway, wasn't satisfied with that and engaged in a little trash-talking with the Cincy bench and Cincinnati player Kilpatrick until all hell broke loose with 9 seconds remaining. There will be multiple suspensions when the officials sort this one out.
Kudos to Cincinnati coach, Mick Cronin, who told reporters after the game, that he, "...literally took the jerseys off some of the players himself, and they wouldn't be allowed to put them back on until he determined who was worthy of playing for the Univ. of Cincinnati." Cronin says he also asked officials to start calling technical fouls on all the trash-talkers, to try and stem the hard feelings, but that never happened.
We'll probably see replays of this all day. Maybe players all over the country will learn something from this, but I doubt it.

***A BETTER WAY TO END A GAME***
#1 ranked Kentucky was beaten by un-ranked Indiana, 73-72, on a last-second three point shot by Christian Watford, followed by a court-storming by the Hoosier fans. You gotta love that kind of enthusiasm. Of course, I am always for John Calipari getting beat. Basketball the way it should be.
They mentioned early in the game, that it was being broadcast back to Kentucky to 53 radio stations and also to Indiana to 43 more stations. That's quite a fan base for both teams.

## So with #1 Kentucky getting beat and earlier, #2 Ohio State losing, is it possible that #3 Syracuse will be named #1 in the country on Monday? I'm not sure they deserve it quite yet, but it is exciting.

## The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl pits Illinois against UCLA, two teams with 13 combined losses, and is appropriate for participants that are obviously from hunger.

## Tim McCarver has been named this year's winner of the Ford C. Frick award by the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which is awarded to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball." I've never been a big fan of McCarver, but I will congratulate him for winning the award in hopes that it means he's retiring.

***THEY SAID IT***
"The rats are bigger than pigs out there in Wrigley Field. You want to take a look? I think the rats are lifting weights." -- Former Manager Ozzie Guillen
"Dwight Howard bolting Orlando for the Clippers would be like your wife leaving you for Arnold Horshack." -- Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel
Lindsey Vonn had a four-race win streak since splitting the sheets: "I heard 43 World Cup skiers filed for divorce this week." -- Charlie Gay
"Michael Jordan's future neighbors at an upscale golf development in Jupiter, Fla., are already complaining about his boisterous posse and cigar-butt littering on the course. If they think that's bad, wait'll he starts sticking his tongue out at them." -- Dwight Perry
A genetics group studying American males says men under six feet tall have more children. In a related study, 99 per cent of geneticists haven't heard of the NBA. -- RJ Currie

Just thought you should know: Manny Ramirez has been officially re-instated by Major League baseball. Let the bidding begin (Hah!).

CP-